DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.
Applicant's submission filed on July 30, 2026 has been entered.
Claims 1-10, 12, 16-17, and 19-20 are cancelled.
Claims 11, 13, 23, 25, and 27 are amended.
Claims 11, 13-15, 18, and 21-27 are pending in this application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 11 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rodenbeck et al (US 2013/0141270 A1) in view of Chang (US 5414433 A) and Moore (US 4242653 A).
Regarding Claim 11, Rodenbeck teaches a wireless device comprising [0014 for transmitting UWB pulses]:
a transmitter circuit configured to generate an ultra-wideband UWB impulse waveform comprising a plurality of pulses [0014 for pulsed waveform];
an antenna port coupled to an antenna configured to emit the UWB impulse waveform toward a nearby object and absorb an echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform reflected by the nearby object [figure 1 element with 0015-0016 for object ranges (distance) and 0027];
wherein a roundtrip propagation duration of the UWB impulse waveform between the antenna and the nearby object is substantially shorter than a pulse width of each of the plurality of pulses [0014, and 0018-0020 for sub nano-second pulse width and bandwidth of 1GHz];
a receiver circuit configured to receive the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform to thereby determine a distance to the nearby object [0014 for UWB receivers, 0028];
receive the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform from the port [0014].
Rodenbeck fails to explicitly teach and an echo-cancelling acoustic delay circuit configured to: receive the UWB impulse waveform from the transmitter circuit delay the UWB impulse waveform by a temporal delay, provide the delayed UWB impulse waveform to the port, delay the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform by the temporal delay, and provide the delayed echo of the emitted impulse waveform to the receiver circuit.
Chang has a phased array antenna having two stages of time steering control (abstract) and teaches a transmit antenna port, and a receive antenna port and an echo-cancelling acoustic delay circuit configured to [col 7, lines 10-20 for a transmit signal TXIN or a receive signal RCVIN depending on the current mode of operation of the phased array antenna]:
receive the UWB impulse waveform from the transmitter circuit delay the UWB impulse waveform by a temporal delay [col 6, lines 40-50 for post amplifier 33 is selected by switches 32 and 36 in the receive mode],
provide the delayed UWB impulse waveform to the port, delay the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform by the temporal delay [col 6, lines 35-45 for one-bit time delay unit, a phase shifter is coupled to a switch 32 both of which are controlled by a serial/parallel converter],
and provide the delayed echo of the emitted impulse waveform to the receiver circuit [col col 6, lines 45-55 for Switch 42 is coupled to a variable attenuator 44 which is coupled to switch 46].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the object position techniques, as disclosed by Rodenbeck, further including the acoustic delay calculations as taught by Chang for the purpose to discriminating between desired echos and interference of many types for providing the most detectability of a target (Chang, col 5, lines 60-67).
Rodenbeck fails to explicitly teach cancel a transmit (TX) echo caused in the UWB impulse waveform by delaying the UWB impulse waveform and the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform prior to providing the delayed UWB impulse waveform to the antenna port; and cancel a receive (RX) echo caused in the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform by delaying the UWB impulse waveform and delaying the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform prior to providing the delayed echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform to the receiver circuit.
Moore has electroacoustic apparatus is described incorporating a substrate having a plurality of transducers (abstract) and teaches cancel a transmit (TX) echo caused in the UWB impulse waveform by delaying the UWB impulse waveform and the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform prior to providing the delayed UWB impulse waveform to the antenna port [col 2, lines 35-45 for providing wide band triple transit suppression about a predetermined center frequency and col 10, lines 25-35 for means for coupling an input signal to said first, third and fifth transducer];
and cancel a receive (RX) echo caused in the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform by delaying the UWB impulse waveform and delaying the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform prior to providing the delayed echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform to the receiver circuit [col 50-55 for third transducer and having a second acoustical path length from the third transducer].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the object position techniques, as disclosed by Rodenbeck, further including the acoustic path calculations as taught by Moore for the purpose to providing wideband triple transit suppression about a predetermined center frequency (Moore, col 3, lines 1-10).
Regarding Claim 23, Rodenbeck teaches a method for detecting a nearby object in a wireless device comprising [0014 for transmitting UWB pulses]:
generating an ultra-wideband (UWB) impulse waveform comprising a plurality of pulses [0014 for pulsed waveform];
emitting the UWB impulse waveform toward the nearby object, wherein a roundtrip propagation duration of the UWB impulse waveform between an antenna emitting the UWB impulse waveform and the nearby object is substantially shorter than a pulse width of each of the plurality of pulses [0014, and 0018-0020 for sub nano-second pulse width and bandwidth of 1GHz];
absorbing an echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform reflected by the nearby object [figure 1 element with 0015-0016 for object ranges (distance) and 0027];
and determining a distance to the nearby object based on the UWB impulse waveform and the delayed echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform [0014-0016 and 0018].
Rodenbeck fails to explicitly teach delaying the UWB impulse waveform by a temporal delay; delaying the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform by the temporal delay.
Chang has a phased array antenna having two stages of time steering control (abstract) and teaches delaying the UWB impulse waveform by a temporal delay [col 6, lines 40-50 for post amplifier 33 is selected by switches 32 and 36 in the receive mode],
delaying the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform by the temporal delay [col 6, lines 35-45 for one-bit time delay unit, a phase shifter is coupled to a switch 32 both of which are controlled by a serial/parallel converter].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the object position techniques, as disclosed by Rodenbeck, further including the acoustic delay calculations as taught by Chang for the purpose to discriminating between desired echos and interference of many types for providing the most detectability of a target (Chang, col 5, lines 60-67).
Rodenbeck fails to explicitly teach cancel a transmit (TX) echo caused in the UWB impulse waveform by delaying the UWB impulse waveform and the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform prior to providing the delayed UWB impulse waveform to the antenna port; and cancel a receive (RX) echo caused in the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform by delaying the UWB impulse waveform and delaying the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform prior to providing the delayed echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform to the receiver circuit.
Moore has electroacoustic apparatus is described incorporating a substrate having a plurality of transducers (abstract) and teaches cancel a transmit (TX) echo caused in the UWB impulse waveform by delaying the UWB impulse waveform and the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform prior to providing the delayed UWB impulse waveform to the antenna port [col 2, lines 35-45 for providing wide band triple transit suppression about a predetermined center frequency and col 10, lines 25-35 for means for coupling an input signal to said first, third and fifth transducer];
and cancel a receive (RX) echo caused in the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform by delaying the UWB impulse waveform and delaying the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform prior to providing the delayed echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform to the receiver circuit [col 50-55 for third transducer and having a second acoustical path length from the third transducer].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the object position techniques, as disclosed by Rodenbeck, further including the acoustic path calculations as taught by Moore for the purpose to providing wideband triple transit suppression about a predetermined center frequency (Moore, col 3, lines 1-10).
Claims 24-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rodenbeck et al (US 2013/0141270 A1) in view of Chang (US 5414433 A) and Moore (US 4242653 A) as applied to claim 23 above, and in further view of Walker et al (WO 2005/033728 A).
Regarding Claim 24, Rodenbeck fails to explicitly teach splitting the UWB impulse waveform into an in-phase transmit signal and a quadrature transmit signal; delaying the in-phase transmit signal by the temporal delay; delaying the quadrature transmit signal by the temporal delay; and regenerating the UWB impulse waveform from the in-phase transmit signal and the quadrature transmit signal.
Walker has apparatus are provided for radar systems using multiple pulses that are shorter than the expected range delay extent of the target to be imaged (abstract) and teaches splitting the UWB impulse waveform into an in-phase transmit signal and a quadrature transmit signal [0027 for using I/Q signals for data processing];
delaying the in-phase transmit signal by the temporal delay [0078 for delaying pulses and generating I and Q signals];
delaying the quadrature transmit signal by the temporal delay [0078, 0080];
and regenerating the UWB impulse waveform from the in-phase transmit signal and the quadrature transmit signal [0080, 0094].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the object position techniques, as disclosed by Rodenbeck, further including the I/Q signal calculations as taught by Walker for the purpose to produce a representation of the range delay profile signal (Walker, 0094).
Regarding Claim 25, Rodenbeck fails to explicitly teach cancelling the TX echo in the UWB impulse waveform as a result of delaying the in-phase transmit signal and the quadrature transmit signal by the temporal delay.
Walker has apparatus are provided for radar systems using multiple pulses that are shorter than the expected range delay extent of the target to be imaged (abstract) and teaches cancelling a transmit (TX) echo in the UWB impulse waveform as a result of delaying the in-phase transmit signal and the quadrature transmit signal by the temporal delay [0060 for bounce cancellation (echo multipath), and 0078, 0080].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the object position techniques, as disclosed by Rodenbeck, further including the I/Q signal calculations as taught by Walker for the purpose to output a detection signal indicating the presence of a given pulse during a given timeslot for decoding purposes (Walker, 0078).
Regarding Claim 26, Rodenbeck teaches splitting the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform into an in-phase receive signal and a quadrature receive signal; delaying the in-phase receive signal by the temporal delay; delaying the quadrature receive signal by the temporal delay; and regenerating the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform from the in-phase receive signal and the quadrature receive signal.
Walker has apparatus are provided for radar systems using multiple pulses that are shorter than the expected range delay extent of the target to be imaged (abstract) and teaches splitting the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform into an in-phase receive signal and a quadrature receive signal [0027 for using I/Q signals for data processing];
delaying the in-phase receive signal by the temporal delay [0078 for delaying pulses and generating I and Q signals];
delaying the quadrature receive signal by the temporal delay [0078, 0080];
and regenerating the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform from the in-phase receive signal and the quadrature receive signal [0080, 0094].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the object position techniques, as disclosed by Rodenbeck, further including the I/Q signal calculations as taught by Walker for the purpose to produce a representation of the range delay profile signal (Walker, 0094).
Regarding Claim 27, Rodenbeck teaches cancelling the RX echo in the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform as a result of delaying the in-phase receive signal and the quadrature receive signal by the temporal delay.
Walker has apparatus are provided for radar systems using multiple pulses that are shorter than the expected range delay extent of the target to be imaged (abstract) and teaches cancelling a receive (RX) echo in the echo of the emitted UWB impulse waveform as a result of delaying the in-phase receive signal and the quadrature receive signal by the temporal delay [0060 for bounce cancellation (echo multipath), and 0078, 0080].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the object position techniques, as disclosed by Rodenbeck, further including the I/Q signal calculations as taught by Walker for the purpose to output a detection signal indicating the presence of a given pulse during a given timeslot for decoding purposes (Walker, 0078).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 13-15,18 and 21-22 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 11, 13-15, 18, and 21-27 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Applicant’s arguments page 9, second paragraph the applicant argues that Rodenbeck does not teach a round-trip propagation duration with substantially shorter pulse widths. The examiner respectfully disagrees, Rodenbeck teaches the pulse decay to a prescribed level within nano-seconds [Rodenbeck, 0018] suggesting transmitted pulses must decay to a prescribed level within nanoseconds suggesting a sub-nanosecond full width half maximum FWHM pulse width.
Applicant’s arguments page 10, third paragraph the applicant states that Rodenbeck does not teach the round-trip propagation with shorter pulse widths. The examiner respectfully disagrees, Rodenbeck teaches pulsed systems do have a minimum detectable range, because the receiver is not on when the transmitter is transmitting (round trip shorter than pulse width) [Rodenbeck 0006] and the detection of targets at short ranges with at least 1.5 m accuracy [near range targets round trips are shorter than pulse duration) [Rodenbeck, 0015].
Applicant’s arguments page 10, fourth paragraph the applicant states that the claims are amended over current art. The examiner thanks the applicant for the amendments and directs reference Moore to the new limitations in claims 11 and 23. [Moore, col 2, lines 40-55].
Conclusion
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/SAMARINA MAKHDOOM/
Examiner, Art Unit 3648
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